How to Use Admission Ratios for Physical Therapy Schools

Admission ratios can be a very useful tool for students to get a quick, yet effective glimpse of each doctor of physical therapy program’s (DPT) admission tendencies. This may be by design or due to the type of application pool they receive. Although the ratios change from year-to-year, many of the programs have been similar the past two admission years. This is the first article in an ongoing series where PTGrad.com will explain a number of the key ways that admission ratios can be used by you to make your application search drastically easier.

Public Institutional Tendencies:

Public Universities often have tendencies to admit a majority of in-state applicants. Admission preferences are typically indicated in their charter and therefore, universities often have an official policy requiring preferential treatment towards in-state applicants. However, this is not always the case. As each state government has differences in how they approach education and in-state residency status, a careful review is needed. You and your family need a proper vigilance before you spend your hard earned application money on a specific school.

The required information is often found on the FAQ’s page or other similar page on each university website. Unfortunately, not all universities websites are as easily navigable and may not have a clearly marked FAQ page. When available you can find these links on each respective doctor of physical therapy profile page under “Resources” in the prerequisite section. If there are further concerns, each DPT programs phone number is in the “Offering” section. Below is a quick start list four public university tendency types.

Tendency 1:

Exclusive Program: History of selecting 100% of an entering cohort exclusively from the in-state applicant pool:

Advantage: If you are an in-state candidate, you’re in-luck. You have a better opportunity to get reviewed and considered than most private schools across the nation. In-state tuition is cheaper as a general rule than for those crossing borders to attend college.

Disadvantage: If you are an out-of-state candidate, you are out of luck, or your luck is at a trickle. If you are considering applying as an out-of-state applicant, make sure you contact the school to see if they would even consider as an out-of-state applicant. Ask them for a realistic idea of the percentage of out-of-applicants they will consider.

Consideration: In-state applicants should put this type of school on their high priority list for further review. Out-of-state applicants should weigh the cost of applying to this type of program at the risk of foregoing another school with percentages in their favor.

Tendency 2:

8 out of 10 Program: History of selecting 80% or more of an entering cohort from the in-state applicant pool:

Advantage: If you are an in-state candidate, your odds are 80% or better to be reviewed and considered strictly based on your residency profile alone. You have a better opportunity to get reviewed and considered than most private schools across the nation. In-state tuition is cheaper as a general rule than for those crossing borders to attend college.

Disadvantage: If you are an out-of-state candidate, you odds are 20% or less strictly consideration on residency factors. Remember your true odds vary with how many students apply to the program, how many of each residency status apply, each student’s relevant GRE and GPA scores, and a number of other factors. If you are considering applying as an out-of-state applicant, make sure you contact the school and find out if you match their qualified applicant profile.

Consideration: In-state applicants should put this type of school on their high priority list for further review. Out-of-state applicants should weigh the cost of applying to this type of program. Make sure that the GPA and GRE scores (if pertinent) are comparable or better than those listed by the program as accepted averages.

Tendency 3:

3 out of 5 Program: History of selecting 60%-80% of an entering cohort from the in-state applicant pool:

Advantage: If you are an in-state candidate, your odds are 60-80% that you could be considered for review and possible acceptance strictly based on your residency profile. You have a better opportunity to get reviewed and considered than at some private schools across the nation. In-state tuition is cheaper as a general rule than for those crossing borders to attend college.

Disadvantage: If you are an out-of-state candidate, you odds are still no better than 40% for consideration and acceptance strictly on residency factors. Remember your true odds vary with how many students apply to the program, how many of each residency status apply, each student’s relevant GRE and GPA scores, and a number of other factors. If you are considering applying as an out-of-state applicant, make sure you contact the school to see if you meet the average qualified applicant profile.

Consideration: In-state applicants should put this type of school on their priority list for further review. Out-of-state applicants should weigh the cost of applying to this type of program. The percentages are not equal but much better than either tendency types 1 and 2. Consider and compare price options between similar private innstitutions and the public universities’ out-of-state tuition.

Tendency 4:

Equal Numbers Program: History of selecting approximately 50% of an entering cohort from the in-state applicant pool:

Advantage: If you are an in-state candidate, you’re odds are about 50% that you could be considered for review and possible acceptance strictly on your residency profile. You have a better opportunity to get reviewed and considered than at some private schools across the nation. In-state tuition is cheaper as a general rule than for those crossing borders to attend college.

Disadvantage: If you are an out-of-state candidate, you are still hovering around 50% to be considered and accepted on residency factors. Even though your true odds vary as stated above, this is type of university rarely holds a preference on residency. If you are considering applying as an out-of-state applicant, make sure you contact the school to see if you meet the average qualified applicant profile.

Consideration: In-state applicants should put this type of school on their priority list for further review. Out-of-state applicants should notice that the percentages are grossly 50/50 on residency. You get a fair shot! You can effectively compete with those from inside the state border. Definitely consider price options between similar private schools as compared to the public universities’ out-of-state tuition.

Remember as you conduct your research over 140 PTCAS schools, both public and private, provide formal details about the demographics of students who enter their respective programs each year. They report what percentages of the incoming class were entering the school from locations in-state, out-of-state, or internationally. While It is exceptionally eye opening to find out that some schools have a 90% acceptance ratio of in-state residence, others have the exact opposite tendency and accept 80-90% of out-of-state residence.

PTGrad.com has found eight key factors that can help you understand how to best use your residency status and any special circumstances you may have when choosing to apply to a program. In further posts in our admission ratio series, I will outline each factor and how they affect you or your loved one trying to enter a Doctor of Physical Therapy program.